To help struggling borrowers with little or no equity in their homes, the Bush administration would support GSE legislation that relaxes the mortgage insurance requirements on the loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has told Congress.Such a change would significantly increase the credit risk the government-sponsored enterprises take on, the Treasury secretary said, so it should only be done as part of a comprehensive GSE regulatory reform bill. "It would be irresponsible to expand GSEs' business without addressing the fundamental problems of their regulatory structure," Secretary Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee. Currently, the GSEs are required to have private mortgage insurance on loans they purchase with loan-to-value ratios greater than 80%. The secretary also said the administration would support a temporary increase in GSE loan limits to provide more liquidity in the jumbo market. But he emphasized that such an increase should only be implemented once Congress passes comprehensive GSE reform legislation.
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Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
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The pending end of the program comes as over half of U.S. states have already ceased accepting new applicants for federal aid aimed to help struggling households with mortgage payments.
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But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
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Mortgage payments rose 10% year-over-year to an all-time high for March, Redfin said.
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In an interview, Candor Technology's Sara Knochel recounts how she applies her childhood interest in languages and numbers to crucial home lending issues.
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Harmonizing standards for liquidity coverage ratios and discount window pledges could prevent the type of strains that led to last year's bank failures, according to a new paper whose authors include former Federal Reserve Govs. Dan Tarullo and Jeremy Stein.
March 27